27 Years Ago Today

May 27, 1987. It was a cool, overcast day at West Point. Intermittent rain was falling, which created a lot of consternation. That day, 27 years ago today, I joined my classmates for our final formation as Cadets. It was the day the United States Military Academy’s Class of ’87, “Our Country We Strengthen”, graduated after just over four years together at our “Rock bound Highland Home”. We transitioned that day from Cadet Grey to Army Blue as we raised our right hands and took the commissioning oath as Second Lieutenants in the United States Army. It is amazing to think that it was 27 years ago. Time certainly flies. As I reflect back, I recall that our biggest worry that day was that the rain would force our graduation ceremony indoors. That was something no class had needed to do in many years. The ceremony is traditionally held in Michie Stadium, which is the home of Army Football (we won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy that year). The outdoor football stadium had plenty of room for all of our family and friends who had come from such great distances to be present. If we had to move the ceremony inside Eisenhower Hall it would have limited the seating and forced many to miss the ceremony. So my classmates and I prayed to Odin, the legendary Cadet god of weather, to restrain the rain. The irony being that we had asked Odin so many times in our four years to bring bad weather to cancel parades and other formations. Fortunately, the rain held. We had the ceremony outdoors. General Wickham was the speaker, which was an inside joke for Class of ’87 because he had already spoken to us so many times before. One by one our names were called. We crossed the stage and received our diplomas. Finally, at the end of it all, came the words we had waited so long to hear, “Class of ’87, DISMISSED!” A thousand white uniform hats sailed into the air as we hugged each other, our family members, and friends. We were wearing our Full Dress Grey over White uniforms for the final time. Later that day the sun came out and the temperature warmed greatly. Our family members pinned the Lieutenant bars on our Army Green Class A uniforms. Our chapter at West Point was coming to a close and the next phase of our lives – one of service to country – had begun. No matter what happened from this point on, the West Point Class of ’87 had been forged through the shared experience of what we now always remember as among the best four years of our lives. We are forever brothers and sisters, best friends for life, and bonded in a way few have the opportunity to experience. Our Country We Strengthen! ’87!

I salute all of my classmates today. Many continue to serve our Army. Some have risen to the General Officer ranks. Most have moved on to the private sector. But what I love about my classmates is that they all continue to serve their country, communities, and their families. They are and always have been the best of the best. Like fine wine we have all aged well. We will always remember each other as the raw Cadets we once were.

Today’s anniversary comes at an appropriate time, as it is right on the heels of Memorial Day Weekend.  We had already taken time to honor and remember those who had paid the ultimate sacrifice serving our great Nation. Several members of my class are among those who’ve laid that price down on the altar of Freedom. Their memories will never fade with us. Here in Bagram we had a surprise visit from the President. Around 3,000 of us had gathered in one of the large C130 hangars to hear Country Music star Brad Paisley perform. Some of us, like me, knew what was happening. But a lot of people did not know and it was a huge surprise when the President came out on stage and gave his talk. Afterward, he shook hands with everyone who wanted to meet him. It was a really good event and very fitting tribute to so many of our Nation’s finest who are still making such a sacrifice here in Afghanistan.

I am humbled to serve alongside so many heroes. And I am still incredulous and ever thankful to be a member of West Point’s Class of ’87. 27 years and counting! We’ve got so many good years of service to give.

Side Note:  For those unfamiliar with traditions of West Point I just wanted to explain that Odin in no way is meant to circumvent our true faith. West Point Cadets and Alumni are some of the most spiritual testaments of faith and come from all religions. The “weather god” Odin is a West Point tradition started many years ago – long before Class of ’87. The tradition is that Odin is the Norse God who looks over the weather at West Point. Parades are frequently held at the Academy and while they look great from the stands they are not necessarily fun to be in. Therefore, on parade days Cadets are known to follow tradition and ask Odin to bring bad weather to cancel the parade. It didn’t always work but Cadets will do anything to grab a nap after last class instead of hitting The Plain for a parade.

R&R Zen can only last for so long around here...

Bagram can be compared to the giant planet-eating spacecraft in the classic Star Trek episode “The Doomsday Machine”. It is an unrelenting, unforgiving complexity of challenges that continually find a way to eat at you until it swallows you and spits your remains out the other end. I liken my recent R&R as having charged my deflector shields to the point that I could keep Bagram at a distance. I’ve been calling it my “R&R Zen”. But just like the starships Enterprise and Constellation battling the Doomsday Machine, my deflector shields of R&R Zen can only take so many hits from Bagram before they are depleted. It’s been exactly two weeks since I departed Thailand. My Zen is barely holding on. Just as Thailand has now spiraled into martial law, my R&R aura has been pulled back to Bagram reality. This place is an untamable beast of our own making. The best I can do is keep it caged. Almost everything we do here is reaction to the latest emergency. It’s all we can keep up with at times. But unlike Nigel the farmer tour guide on the banks of Lake Wakatipu, who I met visiting Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand, I cannot simply smirk and avoid answering questions when asked. For reference, Nigel was telling us all about his red deer buck, who had a giant rack of antlers. The buck was constantly dragging his rack along the fence, which was nothing more than chicken wire. I asked Nigel how often he had to repair the fence and rather than answering my question he went off on a tangent about red deer antlers, their new growth each year, and antler nerve endings. All the while the smirk never left his face. I can’t give non-answers like Nigel did for me. When I am asked about the proverbial fence that I use to cage Bagram I have to be prepared to give a straight answer. There are a lot of general officers who take great interest in asking me lots of questions about Bagram. But we keep the place in order. The recent price of doing so has been the destruction of my R&R Zen.

It has now been 14 days since my last beer. There are 110 days until I reach 365 boots on the ground. I can actually see light at the end of the tunnel. We have come a long way since last September and it is really beginning to show on Bagram. To be honest, I think my team and I have smacked Bagram upside the head so many times that it finally blinked. That’s progress. We’re going to make it.

The Taliban pay tribute to The Doors

It’s official. Fighting season has returned. Those crazy Taliban even announced the date it was to begin anew – May 12th. But they took it even one step further. The Taliban used their public relations ploy of announcing the start of fighting season to also pay homage to Jim Morrison and The Doors. Who would’ve ever thought that those bearded guys with their AK47 rifles and RPG-7 rocket launchers were closet 60’s rock fans? Well their secret is out now. They revealed their love for The Doors by actually giving a name to this year’s fighting season – “Khaibar”, which translates to “The End”. Now every time we get an IDF on Bagram I will be thinking of the opening sequence of the movie “Apocalypse Now” and Jim Morrison’s voice will be the earworm playing in my head. Our local Taliban wasted no time either once the official announcement was over. Just that evening we received twelve rockets. One came around 2000. It missed and the “all clear” came very soon afterward. Then at 0300 on the morning of 13 May the alarm sounded again. “Incoming! Incoming! Incoming!” sounded over the warning system repeatedly. Soon after, the C-RAMs began sending their streams of red 20 millimeter tracers arching across the night sky. I wiped the cobwebs from my eyes, muttered a few obscenities at our enemy, and pulled my uniform back on. Just as I stepped outside on my way to my HQ the little shards of C-RAM shrapnel began to rain down on my billets. I yelled at some folks milling about watching the light show to “get the f*&k in the bunker!” I’m irritable when awakened abruptly under these circumstances so early in the morning. Then I sprinted over to my HQ to monitor our emergency response. Eleven rockets had been launched over a ten minute time span. Thank God we all emerged unscathed, albeit cranky and tired due the sleep disruption. The entire time this was going on the haunting voice of Jim Morrison sang “Khaibar” in my head. We’ve got all summer to go. I’ll be completely sick of The Doors by then if the pace is like this for the remainder of my tour. I’m thankful the Taliban didn’t choose a song by Radiohead to immortalize because I’d be really pissed if by the end of summer I was sick of their music.

Fortunately, it’s been very quiet since that night. I’m sure there will be more IDF. It’s as inevitable as sunshine around here. At least those crazy Taliban gave us the official word that the war is back on. I hate those stupid guys.

Returning from R&R

The “days since I last had a beer” count has now been officially reset. The new count is two days. That’s because I had a beer on my flight out of Bangkok at the conclusion of my R&R. My leave was fabulous. The intent of R&R is to allow someone like me to completely unwind, recharge the batteries, forget about work, and come back relaxed and refreshed. Two weeks in Thailand did exactly that for me.  Prior to departing I told my Deputy and CSM that I would be “off the net” and to not contact me unless it was an absolute emergency. I did not think about work at all from the time I departed until the moment I returned to Bagram. As for my thoughts on Thailand? My head is still there. If you haven’t put a trip to Thailand on your bucket list then what are you waiting for?  My trip included three nights in Bangkok, four in Patong, one on Ko Phi Phi, four in Ko Samui, and four in Pattaya City.  I can’t describe the magnificent beauty, the mix of third-world grittiness, or the pure charm of the tropics. You just have to see them for yourself. My only advice is avoid Bangkok altogether. It is a pretty boring city. Everything else is off the hook and each for its own unique way. I’ll go back.

Fortunately, there were no major issues awaiting me upon my return. I did come back to find almost 500 emails in my inboxes. It took me around three straight hours to sort through them all. But my Garrison team did an incredible job while I was away. They never skipped a beat. My complete trust in them paid off handsomely – they got a lot of stuff done and, at the same time, I got to focus on me for two weeks of relaxation. Their hard work while I was away also makes it much easier for me to transition back from leave into my commander mode.

I did have a pleasant surprise waiting me when I got back to Bagram. The Polish Contingent – Task Force White Eagle – presented my CSM and me the Polish Star of Afghanistan. This is an award bestowed to members of the Polish military who served honorably in Afghanistan and the certificate is signed personally by the Polish President, Bronislaw Komorowski. It was an incredible honor and another moment when I reflect on the very unique privilege it is to serve our Nation’s military during wartime. I’ll drink a toast to my Polish counterparts as soon as I can. That would be in four months based on my newly reset “days without a beer” count. But I won’t forget.

Metal Rain

The weather has been warming. Spring has arrived in Bagram. With it has come the return of IDF. Those nasty Taliban pukes have been probing us a lot. They know the C-RAMs are in place so they've been firing rockets at low trajectories or just short of the perimeter wall to gauge the response. The other night they decided to be more bold and go for the gusto. I was in my room around 2200 when the alarm sounded. "Incoming! Incoming! Incoming!" blared over the speakers as I dove to the floor. But what accompanied the alarm was the sound of super badass chainsaws. The C-RAMs were at work. I got up from the floor and ran downstairs to the bunker. As I made my way downstairs the alarm sound again, indicating more rockets inbound. The C-RAMs immediately announced their presence, as at least five of them at once began engaging the rockets. What an incredible sound and light display! The C-RAM's 20mm gatling gun fires almost 2,000 rounds a minute. At night the stream of tracers coming from the gun system is like a bright red fire hose stream of light. The rounds then detonate after traveling a certain distance, making a popping, crackling and flashing show of power. Wait, where was I? Oh yes, I was headed to the bunker when the alarm sounded again. I never actually made it into the bunker though. Instead I became mesmerized by the crisscrossing red streams above and their awesome explosive endings. It was the most fantastic C-RAM display I'd ever seen through multiple deployments. I was still standing there in awe when bits and pieces of the exploded shells started raining down all around me. Silly me, only then did I dart into the bunker. I wish I could've taken a video of the show. Even the Taliban had to have been impressed. Their rockets failed in their deadly mission once again.

Now I find myself on the eve of my R&R. At last I will be able to recharge. And I will do so knowing that the happiest days of my life are ahead of me. I know that now more than ever. Bagram is just a temporary holding cell for what the future has in store. I will not even think of Bagram while I am on R&R. I promised my entire Garrison staff that I will come back refreshed and I meant it. But I will always remember the night in Bagram when we were pelted with the metal rain of multiple C-RAMs in action. It was simply one of those events you have to see to believe. I'm thankful I was there to see it unfold. I'll never look at a 4th of July fireworks show the same again.

Afghanistan Elections meet Captain America

The long anticipated Afghanistan presidential election came and went without incident. By all accounts it was a smashing success. It was a historic event – the first truly democratic election to determine a new president since the war began. President Karzai could not be re-elected. While we prepared for the worst, the actual day of the election was very peaceful. There was a record turnout to vote. It may take a few weeks to tally the votes and a runoff is expected. But, by and large, the people of Afghanistan made a statement for their country’s future. What was more significant is that the Afghan security forces were in the lead for protecting the polling stations. In times past we would have expected that to be a recipe for disaster. But the Taliban were practically nowhere to be seen. This meant the election was not only a resounding success, but it was also a boost of confidence to the stability of the country. There was a lot of work that went into making the election a success. The U.S. Forces, Coalition, and Civilians associated with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) could all take great pride in making this history come true for the people of Afghanistan. While the election process is far from complete, the election was a great first step and clearly demonstrated to all that the past decade has not been in vain. We continue to pray for peace and prosperity in the coming months and years. We were here to not only witness history, but also to make it happen.

As the election day was winding down, many of us here on Bagram gathered for a rewarding evening. The good folks at Marvel had received a letter from some Soldiers who had written to remind them there was still a war going on here. Essentially, the Soldiers were asking for a copy of the new Captain America movie. The folks from Marvel were more than happy to oblige. They provided a copy of the movie to Army Air Force Exchange Services (AAFES), who hustled the movie to Bagram for a showing. The Bagram AAFES folks contacted me and arranged to use our large “clamshell” facility to air the movie. We laid on food, music, and prizes to accompany the event and sent out a notice to everyone with the time and location of the showing. There must have been almost 500 people who showed up, including representation from all the Armed Services, Coalition Forces, and civilians on Bagram. The AAFES folks asked me to share a few words before the movie began. I thanked them all for their service, held a moment of silence for our comrades in Fort Hood, praised everyone for playing their part in making the Afghan election a success, and then got off the stage so the movie could roll. It was a great show. Everyone enjoyed the evening and I believe it was one of the best MWR events I’ve been a part of in all of my various deployments. The Afghanistan elections had met Captain America and both turned out to be winners. I wish every day in Afghanistan could be like this one was.

To Kandahar and Back

I finally managed to break out of Bagram for an overnight. It had been in planning for a few weeks. My excursion was rather mundane in appearance but it was definitely refreshing to get away. The last night of March I flew down to Kandahar Airfield (KAF for short). The purpose of my trip was to attend a Transfer-of-Authority (TOA) ceremony for the KAF Garrison. By the time I departed the next day I had seen enough of KAF to know it is very different than Bagram. First of all, it is a NATO base. That means it has much more of an international presence. This includes Germans, Romanians, British, Dutch, among others. KAF is home to a large American presence as well. Overall, the population of KAF is a few thousand less than BAF. It appears like a more orderly base. The center of off-duty life is around an area known as “The Boardwalk”. This is a large shopping square with shops and restaurants on the outside facing into a recreational area that includes basketball courts, picnic areas, a walking track, and an artificial turf athletic field. Among the restaurants you can find Nathan’s Hot Dogs, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and even a TGI Friday’s. I would have never believed this had I not seen it in person. It’s true. But everything is short-lived at this point. KAF, like BAF, is in the process of downsizing rapidly. I definitely enjoyed my few hours there. The ceremony was great too. I had no time to loiter afterwards, as my flight was immediately following the TOA. By 1500 I was touching back down in BAF. There is no boardwalk in BAF. There never will be either.

Once back in Bagram, I found that the first few days of April were consumed with a sudden power struggle brought on by the “good idea fairies” from higher command. There’s another unit that has been sent here and as they’ve settled in it has become apparent they think they own some of the Garrison mission. I’ll have none of that. But it appears the fight is just beginning. It has made for an exhausting week so far. If the outcome does not reverse the course the good idea fairies have forced upon BAF there will be hell to pay around here. Dysfunction is sure to follow at a time we need it the least.

My last thought today is of the Soldiers who were killed or wounded yesterday in the tragic shooting at Fort Hood. There were many scenes today of military and civilian personnel in Bagram gathered around televisions watching the news updates. It is such a terrible event, coming just five years after that Islamic terrorist Major Hassan carried out his Jihadist rampage at the same installation. Although it doesn’t sound like yesterday’s event was terror related or connected to Islamic extremism, it is equally as heartbreaking. The prayers of the entire Bagram community are reaching out from Afghanistan to the families of those killed or wounded and for the Soldiers now recovering from their wounds. May God bless all of them and provide them comfort and healing during this time of gut-wrenching loss.